The brash poetry of Asger Jorn

In 1964, after being notified of his selection as the winner of the Guggenheim International Award, Asger Jorn sent the following telegram to Harry Guggenheim:

‘GO TO HELL WITH YOUR MONEY BASTARD –STOP- REFUSE PRICE –STOP- NEVER ASKED FOR IT –STOP- AGAINST ALL DECENCY MIX ARTIST AGAINST HIS WILL IN YOUR PUBLICITY –STOP- I WANT PUBLIC CONFIRMATION NOT TO HAVE PARTICIPATED IN YOUR RIDICULOUS GAME –STOP-‘

Very sporting, then, of the museum to include Jorn in their recently closed wide-sweeping survey of international abstraction from 1949-1960, Art Of Another Kind. Very fortunate for patrons, as well, as the Jorns on display in the show are knockouts- ferocious, muscly, indignant howls of paintings which echo the brash poetics of the sneering telegram.

Also wonderful to see on display were the more polite, considered, dreamy takes on gestural abstraction from Japanese-American painters Kenzo Okada and Yutaka Ohashi. These pictures, for me, feel remarkably fresh, surprising even, in their lightness and uncompromised beauty.

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Two Coats of Paint is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution - Noncommercial - No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Contact Sharon Butler via email for permission to use content beyond the scope of this license.